Mrembo

Bath is where Mrembo comes alive. Three wins from just 7 races there gives her a win rate of around 1 in every 2.3 visits, which is a remarkable ratio for any horse. To put that in perspective: across her bread-and-butter Class 5 races — the level she competes at most — she has won just 1 from 23, which is a very modest 4%. The contrast tells you everything. Bath is not just a track she visits; it is somewhere that genuinely suits her, perhaps the tighter turns, perhaps the particular shape of the ground. Whatever the reason, the record speaks for itself.

Her most recent win came at Windsor just this week — a timely reminder that she is still competitive and in form. Jockey Olivia Tubb has been the constant in her best moments, riding her to 3 of those 6 career wins across 20 races together, a win rate of 15% — more than double what Mrembo typically achieves. That kind of partnership matters. Trainer Jonathan Portman, based at Upper Lambourn in Berkshire, has been open about the fact that Mrembo can be moody — she has to be in the right frame of mind on race day — a trait she apparently inherited from her mother, who the same yard also trained. The yard itself is in solid form, having sent out 46 winners this season.

Portman has also noted that she loves fast, dry ground and can struggle when the pace is set too quickly early on, as happened at Salisbury recently when the tactics did not come off. Her recent form — a win, two thirds, and a fourth across her last six runs — suggests she is in decent shape heading into the back half of the season, with a possible trip to Brighton on the cards. At seven, she is not going to be reinventing herself, but she does not need to. She is a horse who knows what she is doing and, on the right day at the right track, she is still very capable of winning.